If A Tree Falls In The Forest

Category: music 140

Connexion ARC continue to fan the fringe flames.

By Matt Carter @m_j_c73

IMG_0840I admit it. I don’t make it to as many shows at Connexion ARC as I’d like to. ‘You can’t do everything’. At least that’s what I tell myself.

I was able to attend last Friday’s performance by Counting on Downstairs/Sbot N Wo and as with everything I’ve experienced at Connexion ARC, I was not disappointed.

It was a beautiful Friday evening, springtime in Fredericton, one of those evenings when the idea of turning your back on the sun’s last hours seems almost inconceivable. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt that way as my arrival literally doubled the audience.

Counting On Downstairs (Eric Hill) was midway through his set when I took my seat at the back of the room. Hill’s performance fit perfectly with the mid-evening sunlight that filled the space. His simple melodies paired with contrasting sounds of static and distortion were exactly what I needed to hear at that moment – a perfect way to leave the work week behind.

Sbot N Wo then delivered a thought-provoking performance of vocal manipulations before inviting Hill, Connexion ARC’s Tate LeJeune and the only other person in the audience (who happened to be a vocal improviser) to join them for a performance. The other audience member (me) was then treated to a 15-minute work of art in lieu of a planned Q&A session.

I’ve got a lot of respect for what Tate and Connexion ARC are doing, providing a stage for new sounds and auditory experiences to exist. These pieces of sonic art are no less inspiring than their more conventional counterparts, but unlike a painting or a photograph hanging on a wall in an environment where they can be enjoyed for as long as their audiences choose, these experiences exist only in the moment and for me, that makes them far more vital.

Well worth the price of admission.

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